


The Pregnancy Scare

by livy_bear



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Scare, Pregnant Lily Evans, in which i had an itch i needed to scratch, jily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 21:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3303710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livy_bear/pseuds/livy_bear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Lily had a pregnancy scare in her final year of Hogwarts?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Scare

Lily's heart raced as she nearly sprinted down the stairs from the Girls' Dorm to the Common Room. Mentally she was counting and re-counting and calculating days and percentages as her thoughts whizzed over the conclusion that her brain was most certainly not jumping to.

Not twenty minutes ago Lily had been sitting peacefully in her dorm laughing with Mary and Alice about their respective boyfriends. She'd been having a good time, taking her mind off of the fact that she hadn't been able to see James much that entire week. That was, until Marlene had walked in, Quidditch gear in tow, complaining about how James had made her play through her cramps, and Lily should bite his head off for it because Marlene was in too much pain to do it. The girls laughed, and Lily's stomach dropped seven floors.

Yes, Lily was having a wonderful morning until she realized she was late.

Three weeks late.

"Oh bloody hell,"

And that brought her to the sprinting down the stairs to the Common Room, where she hoped she would find James. Stupidly, she thought he would be back at the same time as Marlene, but he always stayed late to clean up, the stupid responsible berk. She started towards the portrait hole, running flat into just the black haired, quidditch playing seventh year she didn't want to see.

"Oi, watch it, Red." Sirius Black grinned down at the marginally smaller form of Lily, until he seemed to pick up on her stress. He dropped his hands on her shoulders and took a step back. "You alright?"

"Fine, is James on his way?" She craned to see around him.

"He's cleaning," Lily sighed, already having known that's what he'd be doing. She made to turn around, but Sirius still had a pretty firm grip on her shoulders. "No seriously, Evans, what's wrong?"

Staring at Sirius she weighted her options. She could either insist it was nothing and go back up to her dorm and face the same questions from her dorm mates, or she could tell the best mate of her boyfriend (a boyfriend that she'd only had for six months) that she was possibly, maybe, at least forty percent sure, pregnant.

Some part of her felt bad Sirius would know before James.

"I'll tell you, but-" She glanced around the crowded Common Room. "-not here."

Sirius nodded, backing to push the portrait hole open again. "I know the perfect place."

He was talking about the Room of Requirements. Lily figured that out when they walked the all too familiar path to her and James' favorite snog spot. She started to take the lead, and after pacing the corridor and getting the door to appear, Sirius sent her a knowing look.

"Someone's familiar."

"Piss off, Black." Lily rolled her eyes, pushing her way into the Room that had transformed into what looked like a comfortable sitting room. She sat down on the edge of the couch that had appeared and waited for Sirius to follow. It didn't take long and he soon joined her.

"Are you going to tell me now?" He jabbed at her leg with his finger.

"I'm, well, see-that is," She sighed, chewing on her lip and wondering if she'd ever get the words out. "I'm pregnant?"

Silence.

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered.

"Not for three weeks," That almost got her a smile.

"Well, are you sure?"

"I've been feeling sick all week," Lily looked down at her hands, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "And I'm late. And-and-" Tears choked the words from her throat, and Sirius immediately wrapped his arms her. She felt the strong brotherly comfort that she'd only ever experienced from him. James comforted her in a lot of ways, yes, but Sirius was like the older sibling Petunia neglected to be her whole life.

"What are we going to do about it?" The jump to 'we' was automatic. Of course it was we, she had told Sirius.

"We can't tell him!"

Sirius pulled away. "Lily, we have to tell James."

"We can't."

"It's his," Sirius insisted, before he squinted leaning away skeptically. "Unless... it's not?"

"No, Merlin, no," Lily shook her head, and Sirius relaxed. "It's definitely James'."

"Then he needs to know." He comfortingly rubbed her arm.

"Not yet,"

Sirius snorted, poking her in the side. "I think eventually, he'll start to notice."

"I'm going to tell him," She winced. "Just, not today."

* * *

 

 

"Lily!"

Lily turned at the sound of her name, heart beginning to race. There he was, the man of the hour. The one she'd been avoiding all week. She even purposely woke up earlier than he usually did, stared determinedly straight ahead in classes with him, and ducked into whatever unused classroom was closest whenever he caught up with her in the halls. She didn't have to fake an illness to avoid the prefect meeting earlier that afternoon because Lily spent most of the time huddled over the toilet in her dorm.

There was no avoiding him now. The corridor was empty and she could see the ruddy Marauders Map in his hands.

"James," She greeted in a strangled sort of voice.

He stopped a few feet from her, which was odd because he usually left little to no space between their bodies. His expression was closed off, timid, probably because Lily had been cold. She wanted to desperately to reach out and touch his cheek or hold his hand, but at his sudden unexpected appearance there was an uncomfortable twisting in Lily's gut. Her eyes sought out the closest bathroom or broom closet that she could be sick in without raising suspicion.

"Are you mad at me?" James blurted suddenly, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"Of course not," She shook her head.

"Why are you avoiding me?" He looked up, his eyes sad.

"I just can't be near you now,"

"Oh," His face fell.

_Avoiding him won't make you less pregnant_ , her subconscious reminded her. Merlin, she knew that but... she just couldn't face him knowing that something was growing inside of her, living, and it was half him and half her. And he had no idea. He thought she was mad. He probably thought she was going to break up with him; Merlin, she'd been avoiding him enough. It had been a week, and Sirius hadn't said a word. Her dorm mates seemed oblivious enough, so there was no trouble there.

"James?"

"Yes?"

Why did he have to look so bloody adorable all the time? "I love you."

He relaxed, but the worry lines on his forehead didn't vanish completely. "I love you too, Lils."

She wanted to run to him, close the infuriating amount of space between them and snog him senseless. She wanted to tell him everything, and have him hold her and tell her it was alright.

But she couldn't. Not yet.

So she walked away.

* * *

 

The Common Room was quiet enough for a Wednesday night, and Lily found solace in the fire. She sat in the chair that allowed her to be closest and read. The book was a muggle classic, The Scarlet Letter. Lily couldn't help feeling a connection with Hester Prynne. They, after all, were going through very similar things, except Lily hadn't slept with the minister. Nor had she moved to a house in the woods, separating herself from everyone. And she highly doubted she would die a saint, in fact, Lily doubted she would be revered at all when she died.

She did understand Hester's loneliness. Lily hadn't spoken to James or Marlene or Mary, or any of her friends save for Sirius since she'd found out. It wasn't her plan to withdraw from everyone, but part of her just didn't want to think about the fact that she was pregnant. She had essentially thrown her entire life off track because she wasn't careful. And now she was hormonal, and could really only cry to Sirius.

Shutting her book, Lily sighed and tucked her legs beneath her. There were a lot of things she really didn't want to think about, and death and pregnancy were most of them.

"Lily?" She jumped, not having expected anyone to bother her. Marlene and Mary were both standing awkwardly, watching her. Marlene tugged on the ends of her hair and Mary bit at her nails, both telltale signs that they were nervous.

"How are you?" Marlene asked.

"Fine," Lie.

"Classes alright?"

"Sure,"

"Is your family-"

"Are you cheating on James with Sirius?" Mary blurted, stunning the underclassmen that were left into silence. Slowly, they all filtered out, sensing that it was probably not best to be in the Common Room just then.

"Mary," Marlene hissed. "What happened to the plan?"

"Wait, hold on," Lily held up her hands, forcing her friends to backtrack. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"You and Sirius," Marlene clarified.

"What about us?"

"Are you...together?" Mary piped.

"No! He's my boyfriend's best mate," Lily grimaced. "He's... he's _Sirius_!"

"So you're not-"

"No!"

"And you never-"

"Not even once!"

They both looked extremely relieved. Marlene perched on the arm rest of Lily's chair, and Mary sat in front of her. "Then why are you ignoring everyone?" Mary asked.

"It's... complicated."

"Are you sick?"

"Something like that."

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked.

"I'm..." Lily hesitated. Did she want to tell Marlene and Mary? They were her best friends and would definitely be there for her, but Mary was also never one for secrets. She couldn't keep one to save her life, and was actually the one who let slip to James that Lily fancied him.

"You're what?" Marlene's question shook Lily from her pondering.

"Nothing," She covered quickly, looking back to her book.

"It can't be that bad." Marlene scoffed. "It's not like you're pregnant or something."

Lily paled.

"Oh my Godric Gryffindor," Mary gasped. "You are! You're-" She lowered her voice. "-pregnant."

"Please don't tell James." Lily whispered.

"So it's his?"

"Of bloody course it's his," Lily smacked Marlene in the arm. "Why does everyone think immediately that it's not?"

"Oh that's easy," Mary perked, ticking the reasons off. "Because you're avoiding him. You spend most of your time alone or with Sirius. You haven't ruddy told him yet-I'm assuming you've known for a little over a week-"

"Mary?" Marlene interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up,"

Mary did as told. All three girls sat in silence, Marlene wrapping a comforting arm around Lily's shoulders. Lily really did wonder why she hadn't told her best friends.

* * *

 

It was Saturday now, a Hogsmeade weekend, and Lily felt ill. Really ill. Bloody morning sickness. Marlene sat with her in bed, eating all sorts of muggle and wizarding candy. She'd stopped avoiding James, but it was still awkward around him. Luckily, Marlene was very good at throwing an excuse his way to get Lily away. Mary was down in the Great Hall getting them breakfast, and dropping an excuse to why Lily couldn't make it to Hogsmeade with James as planned.

"I'm going to pee," Lily announced, pushing herself off of the bed.

"I'm going to eat the rest of your chocolate frog, then." Marlene called and Lily laughed.

Once Lily was in the bathroom, Marlene did just that. She reached out to grab another before noticing a funny stain where Lily had just been sitting. Suddenly there was a shout from the bathroom. Marlene jumped up, going very quickly to the door.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"Can you-can you grab me some knickers please?" Came the shaky reply.

"Sure, love," Marlene went to Lily's trunk, pulling out a pair of panties. She knocked on the bathroom door and tentatively Lily opened it and grabbed them. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"In a minute," Lily said shutting the door again.

True to her word, a minute later Lily opened the door again. In her hand was presumably the pair of knickers she'd just been wearing. She held them up expectantly to Marlene, waiting for her to get it. There was nothing wrong with them aside from the fresh blood stain.

"So what, you got your period?"

Lily looked at her significantly.

Finally, it clicked in Marlene's head, and she took hold of Lily's arms. "You got your period?" Her voice came out in the breathy whisper, and all Lily could do was nod.

"I DON'T RUDDY _CARE_ IF SHE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE ME, MARY."

Both girls jumped as the shout drifted up the stairs, along with the heavy steps of what sounded like more than one person. The door to the girls' dorm burst open and in came a very put out looking James Potter. Behind him trailed Mary and the rest of the Marauders. In her shock, Lily dropped her soiled knickers.

"For the record, Evans, I wasn't the one who told him." Sirius shouted, sending an accusatory glance at Mary.

"Lily," James nearly growled. His voice was angry. His whole demeanor was angry. Everything but his eyes, which betrayed fear and something like wonder.

"James," Lily breathed, moving forward like North pulled to South on a magnet.

He caught her in his arms, hands coming to rest on either side of her face. His thumb stroked over her cheek. "You're pregnant." It wasn't a question. "Why didn't you want to see me?"

"I didn't know what to tell you," Lily stared into his eyes. "It's your life I'm ruining too."

"You didn't think I needed to know?"

"That's not it,"

"Lily, you're _pregnant_." James sighed.

"I'm not,"

"What do you mean you're not?" James's voice rose loud enough to carry through the entire dorm.

"What?" Mary's jaw dropped.

" _Lily_?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, dubiously. Leave it to Sirius to think she was lying.

"I just ran up all of those stairs for nothing?" Peter complained loudly. "Fuck this; I'm going to finish my breakfast. Congratulations, or something, Lily." Remus and Sirius muttered similar sentiments and followed Peter out.

"I'm not pregnant."

"But you told Sirius-"

"She just got her period, James." Marlene gestured to the bloody knickers.

"Oh," He nodded. "Oh, oh."

"But wait, you felt sick?" Mary pointed out. "What was that, the flu?"

"PMS, probably." Marlene shrugged. "Sometimes I get sick."

Relief visibly rocked through James. He kissed Lily very tenderly before pulling away and laughing. "Lily, when we're married, if you get pregnant, please don't tell Sirius first and hide it from me?"

"I won't."


	2. The Real Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked me to do a sequel where she told Sirius first, so I did.

She woke up feeling sick.

It had been somewhere near a month, and Lily was quite certain she had the flu. However between Auror missions and Order missions, she'd never had the time to see a Healer, muggle or otherwise. So she lived through it. Eat, vomit, sleep, and repeat, that was the cycle that she lived in. And poor James had never dealt with the muggle flu and was hardly any help to her. He mostly fretted and offered to make her potions, but considering his minimally passing grades in that class, Lily felt she'd rather risk her life in other ways.

James really did feel guilty about not being able to help her, Lily could tell. Especially since he had to leave with Peter and Frank for an Order mission in Ireland that day, and her condition hadn't improved. He'd even convinced Sirius to drop in after he'd gone, just to make sure she hadn't keeled over.

So that morning, when Lily woke up sick, she swallowed it down (literally and figuratively) and went to wish James safe travels.

She found him at the door, speaking quietly with Frank about something that obviously bothered them both. She could hear the shuffling noises that signaled to her Peter was in the kitchen. As she drew closer, Frank glanced up, deterring James's concentration. His hazel eyes brighten at the sight of her up, clearly in the clothing she'd worn to bed, which meant she hadn't puked. Which meant she felt well. Which meant he could leave with a lighter heart.

"Feeling better, love?" He extended his arm out, which she gladly stepped into. His hand fell to the familiar spot at her waist, fingers brushing lightly on her hip.

"Much," She lied.

"Oh, Lily, were you not feeling well?" Frank asked.

"I think I've had a bit of the flu." She shrugged. "What were you talking about?"

The men exchanged glanced before Frank smiled weakly at Lily. "Alice is pregnant."

"Really?" He nodded. "Congratulations!" Lily pulled Frank into a hug, squeezing the lights out of him.

"Thanks," His smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Aren't you happy?" Lily asked.

"Of course, it's just..."

"The war," James finished for him.

Lily understood. The war was steadily getting worse, with more and more people disappearing every day. It was getting near impossible to know who to trust, and Lily found herself wary of everyone. She spoke very little to the friends she held outside the Order. She spoke very little to her family, for if Voldemort ever connected her to them, they would surely die. Petunia wasn't a problem, she never spoke to her anyway, but her mum wrote occasionally. Lily would never reply.

There was a sudden crack breaking through the solemn silence. The three in the doorway looked to see Sirius Black standing not too far off on the street, walking to the door.

Lily drew her wand and pointed it at him, causing him to halt. "In Herbology, second year, I got my hair caught in a plant. What was it?"

"Devil's Snare," He answered easily, having drawn his own wand. "What was your choice insult for me in sixth year?"

"Mutt," Lily smiled, walking quickly over to greet Sirius with a hug. He reciprocated in kind.

"Good to see you, Padfoot." James clapped him on the back, before turning to shout back into the house for Peter to get his ass out there. Peter came out holding several of the biscuits Lily had made the previous night, nodded a thank you, and apparated with Frank following closely behind. James paused a moment before he left, turning to look at Lily and Sirius in the doorway. He locked eyes with Lily, asking her seriously, "Are you sure you're feeling well enough for me to go? Because I can stay and-"

"Go, James," Lily kissed him lightly. "The Order needs you more than I do, right now."

He smiled, kissing her one last time before finally apparating away. Lily turned back into the house, where Sirius was looking at her oddly.

"What?" She asked.

"You're not sick."

"What are you talking about?" Lily sighed. "Of course I'm sick; I've been vomiting for the past month-"

"But you're not sick." He repeated.

"I  _am_ -"

"You're  _not_ ," He interrupted. "I can smell it."

"You can smell it."

"I can smell it." He tapped his nose, with a mischievous smirk. "I'm a bit more than human, Red."

Suddenly, Lily got it. Dogs can smell when their owners-and sometimes other humans-are sick. Usually it happened with things like cancer or a terminal illness, but Lily didn't know the specifics. She wasn't a dog. Sirius was, and apparently, he had figured this out. "So if I'm not sick, what am I?"

"Maybe you're pregnant," Sirius joked. It was a common joke between the two ever since the incident in seventh year, but this time it felt different. Something rang truer in the words. Maybe her body was trying to tell her something her mind had ignored...

She hadn't realized she'd been staring blankly with her hand on her abdomen until Sirius waved his hand in front of her face. "Lily," He said hesitantly. "You don't think-"

"No," She said, disbelievingly. "But what if-"

"You said a month?"

"A month,"

"And you haven't-"

"I...I don't think I have."

"So you could be-"

"Yeah,"

"And it isn't like-"

"I'm on a muggle thing, it's regulated."

"Prevention thing?"

"Not always 100%,"

"So-"

"I guess I'm-"

"Is there a way to know for sure?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I'll be right back." She shut the front door and quickly went into the bathroom. At some point she and Mary had gone shopping and bought the thing as a laugh. James wouldn't know what it was, but she had kept it. She didn't know why she had, but she did. And there it was. The pregnancy test. Lily quickly got to work and emerged a few minutes later.

She found Sirius lounging on her couch, flipping through muggle magazines. He had found one about cars and motorcycles and other various modes of transportation. He looked very enraptured. Lily cleared her throat and he jumped up.

"What did you do?" He asked. "Do you know?"

"Not yet."

"How long until you do?"

Lily shrugged. "Two hours, give or take."

"That long?" His mouth dropped open. "Are you sure? We could just go to a Healer; they could do it in about a second-"

"No," She snapped. "No healers. I want to do this the muggle way, alright? Just... humor me."

Sirius acquiesced, sitting back onto the couch and flipping through the magazine. Lily joined him, but didn't read. She was too wired to aimlessly flip through magazines.

"You know, Lily, I think I fancy myself a motorcycle." He said suddenly, after staring at a picture of a sleek black type one for five minutes.

"Those are so dangerous, Sirius." She frowned.

"And fighting in a war isn't?"

"Do what you please," She shrugged, but became very serious very quickly. She glared at him with a raised finger, in the way she had seen McGonagall do a hundred times. "But I swear to Merlin, Black, if I  _am_  pregnant and you bring that motorcycle anyway near my baby... Well, let's just say it will affect your lineage."

Sirius scoffed. "Please, Evans, I'd buy a side seat for it."

"My child is never sitting in the side seat of your motorcycle, even if Death Eaters are chasing his tail and  _Hagrid_  as to drive him to safety." She laughed. "And it's Potter, to you." She corrected with a minute smile that Sirius did not miss.

"Getting a little carried away, are we Mrs. Potter?" Sirius said with a roguish smile. "So sure it's a boy?"

"With my luck, he'll look just like James, too." Lily laughed again, in a way that convinced Sirius she didn't think that would be such a bad thing. If this baby was actually in existence, well,  _he was a he_. Lily knew it. She'd never been good at Divination, but she knew it all the way down to her toes.

As their bantering continued, the two hours flew by, and soon enough, Lily was in the bathroom figuring out the results. She checked and rechecked, and read the directions over again. After ten minutes of this, she walked dazedly back out to Sirius in the living room. He looked at her expectantly.

At first, all she could do was nod, but then the words came. Weakly, but they came. "Yeah," She choked out. "Yeah, I am."

"You're-"

"Yeah,"

"Wow,"

"Yeah,"

Silence.

"Do you want to be the godfather?"

Sirius, who had been staring out the window with a frown, looked away sharply. "I would be honored to." His tone held a sort of delicate reverence that told Lily he would go to the ends of the earth for this child. The unborn child that was growing inside of her right then already had a world of love to be born to. He had a godfather before his father even knew he existed.

Bloody hell, Sirius was the first to know again.

The thought caused Lily to burst into hysterical giggles.

"Are you alright, Lily?" Sirius raised his eyebrow.

"James made me promise t-the first time that-" She giggled. "-that he'd be the first to know if I got pregnant for real." She dissolved into uncontrollable laughter again.

Sirius barked in laughter. "Well that plan's shot. He won't be back for two months."

Lily sobered. "He won't, will he."

"There's no way to pull him back either," Sirius dropped a comforting arm on her shoulder. His face broke into a grin. "When he comes back you'll have a baby bump."

True to what Sirius had told her, by the time the day drew for James to come home, Lily did have a tiny baby bump. To the unobservant eye, it was just a bit of extra weight, but to her and Sirius, it was a bit of a joke. Sirius commented the whole time James was gone that if he didn't get back soon, he would steal Lily away and raise the kid as his own. Lily of course played along, suggesting remote locations they could live in.

"Somewhere warm," Sirius was saying the very afternoon James would return. "Like Belize or the Canary Islands."

"Why there?" Lily asked, laughing and eating freshly made cupcakes.

"The girls, m'love!" Sirius exclaimed, popping one in his mouth. Lily laughed as frosting and bits of cupcake fell on his chin.

"But I thought we had something special." She jokingly placed her hand on her heart.

"We do," He attempted to get the frosting from his chin with his tongue. "But I'm simply a slave to my needs."

"I'm wounded."

"No, you're pregnant." They laughed, until...

"She's  _what_?" Lily and Sirius both jumped from the couch, not having heard the sound of James apparating in. He looked between them quickly, eyes wide.

Lily recovered first. "James!" She cried, running to him and throwing her arms around his neck. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling the sent she'd missed for so long. She was whole again.

"Good to see you breathing, Prongs." Sirius smiled, clapping his friend on the back.

"Yeah," James acknowledged absently. He pried Lily off of him, holding her at a slight distance. "Lily, are you...?"

"I found out right after you left, I swear." She promised, feeling a bit guilty and not looking James in the eyes. She unconsciously brought a hand to her stomach, and James' eyes followed the motion.

"But you are-"

"Yeah," She bit her lip, tentatively looking up. "I'm pregnant."

James' expression was unreadable.

"Surprise," Lily tried weakly.

And just like that, he was kissing her. She was surprised, to say the least, but that didn't mean she didn't respond enthusiastically. After all, this was her husband and she hadn't seen him for two months.

"I could be mad that Sirius knew first,  _again_ ," James grinned, and Sirius scoffed loudly in the background. "But we're having a baby."

Lily laughed. "We are."

"A baby!" James seemed in complete awe of this.

"A baby."

"I'm going to be a father."

"And a bloody good one."

"You're going to be a mother."

Lily hummed her agreement, kissing James just to shut him up. But apparently, he had just a little more to say. "Sirius should be-"

"Godfather?" Lily smiled. "Already covered that."

"Then we're-"

"Perfect." She finished for him.

"Perfect." He agreed.


End file.
